Schroeder: Bellotti’s the bridge between Rose Bowls

It’s all in good fun, of course. But it’s painful, and a little bit cruel, just the same.

The point, of course, is how Oregon is in the Rose Bowl for the second time in a half-century. The Ducks are headed to Pasadena the year after Mike Bellotti stopped coaching. Just like they did the year before he became the Ducks’ head coach.

These are friends?

Bellotti just laughs, and tells them: “No, I’m allergic to thorns.”

But when he talks about how he’ll walk onto the field Friday proud to get the Ducks there in his first year as athletic director, it rings a bit hollow. And he admits to occasionally watching practices this season, either through his office window or while sipping coffee near the Duck Store, and feeling a bit wistful.

Could you blame him?

Bellotti recruited all of these players. Hired most of the coaches — including Chip Kelly, his replacement.

Bellotti also knew, as he contemplated the move to A.D. last winter, what kind of team he had coming back (and let’s be honest, he suspected USC might not be the same ol’ juggernaut in 2009, either).

The Rose Bowl was sitting there, as available as it had been since Pete Carroll arrived in Los Angeles, the one thing missing from Bellotti’s 14-year résumé as the winningest coach in the history of the program.

But here was Bellotti recently, sitting behind his desk in the corner office that’s exactly opposite the football coach’s corner office, saying with a straight face how he was the transition between Rich Brooks and Chip Kelly.

Yes, really. Here’s what he said: “I’ve been the transition from Rich Brooks to Chip Kelly.”